Death penalty in the world: is it a justice or a legalised homicide?

Question

Killing is wrong, so..why does law legalising the Death?
What is your opinion?

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=_kodADbADi4
http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=4169avNdoGo

Answer 1

I don't feel sorry for some people who are condemned to death. The way they killed their victims is way too horrific and cruel and unusual. Those victims didn't have to die like dogs. Why do death penalty opponents always cry about how "cruel and unusual" the punishment is when the victims were killed in that fashion? I feel some of the murderers should be executed slowly, the same way they killed their victims.

The other alternative is to put them in a cell (10' x 10') deep underground where they will have no contact with the outside world and let them rot. No visitors at all. No light, no entertainment, nothing.

Answer 2

You don't have to condone brutal crimes or want the criminals who commit them to avoid a harsh punishment to ask whether the death penalty prevents or even reduces crime and whether it risks killing innocent people. Many people rely on emotion to make up their minds about this. You received several answers that are mistaken on the facts.

What about the risk of executing innocent people?
124 people on death rows have been released with evidence of their innocence.

Doesn't DNA keep new cases like these from happening?
DNA is available in less than 10% of all homicides and can’t guarantee we won’t execute innocent people.

Doesn't the death penalty prevent others from committing murder?
No reputable study shows the death penalty to be a deterrent. To be a deterrent a punishment must be sure and swift. The death penalty is neither. Homicide rates are higher in states and regions that have it than in states that do not.

So, what are the alternatives?
Life without parole is now on the books in 48 states. It means what it says. It is sure and swift and rarely appealed. Life without parole is less expensive than the death penalty.

But isn't the death penalty cheaper than keeping criminals in prison?
The death penalty costs much more than life in prison, mostly because of the legal process, which is supposed to prevent executions of innocent people

What about the very worst crimes?
The death penalty isn’t reserved for the “worst of the worst,” but rather for defendants with the worst lawyers. When is the last time a wealthy person was sentenced to death, let alone executed??

Doesn't the death penalty help families of murder victims?
Not necessarily. Murder victim family members across the country argue that the drawn-out death penalty process is painful for them and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.

So, why don't we speed up the process?
Over 50 of the innocent people released from death row had already served over a decade. If the process is speeded up we are sure to execute an innocent person.

Answer 3

What I find bizarre and ironic is that the people in favor of the death penalty are against abortions!! A bit of a double standard there. I think it IS legalized murder. No one has the right to take someone else's life- granted, some of the people DO deserve to be killed, but who are WE to take a life? So what about this- the person that pulls the switch or does the injections, should THEY die also, b/c they have killed? Why not? What makes them any different? B/C the GOVERNMENT/ LEGAL SYSTEM says it's justified? And we ALL know great THAT system is!

Answer 4

If you have a case where you have multiple witnesses to a murder so that there is no doubt or if the evidence is so overwhelming that there can be no question of doubt, then yes, put the person to death. They have stepped outside the bounds of society by committing what is the gravest of crimes. If you choose to step outside that circle, then you no longer have the right to be afforded the protection and benefits of those rights. You have in essence become a legal "animal" and an animal does not enjoy the same benefits as a human being. The death should be as quick and painless as we can make it because even animals deserve a humane ending.

Answer 5

The Bible is a book used by many to determine many of their lives' ethics and it says "and eye for an eye." So if you killed a person then you as the criminal should die for that crime. Why should the public support you in living where you get free meals, free tv maybe even cable, a free membership to a gym, free clothes, etc. And the chance that one day some stupid Parole Board would pardon you.

No, the Death Penalty is a deterrent to others who think that crime does pay and there is no lasting consequence. Maybe what you should have asked would be "do you think that legal injection is inhuman punishment?" I do not because the person killed someone who suffer so as the criminal if you suffered waiting for a shot that would put you to sleep (no pain) and then die, good.

Maybe we would have less legal crime including driveby shootings, stabbings, etc., if the person knew that at the other end of the court process was a death sentence!

Answer 6

I favor the death penalty. It is the ultimate in final justice. I have been certified by California as a Death Penalty Juror. I sat on a jury for six months. He didn’t get death because he didn’t deserve it even though we could have easily returned that verdict.

I can't address the "world" but I can tell you the US Constitution states that no one will be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process. That makes the death penalty legal in the US.

There is a serious flaw in the American justice system where the death penalty is concerned. Execution takes too damn long. California executed a man a couple of years ago. He spent 22 years on death row as I recall. His crime was murder. He killed two teenagers; a couple of kids who grabbed some hamburgers and drove to a quiet place to eat them. This animal killed them for their Big Macs. The trial indicated that he sat in the car with the bodies and ate the burgers. Then he was allowed to sit on death row longer than his victims lived. He milked the system for decades with one appeal after another.

IMO the appeal process is what is broken. I think 90 days for an appeal is adequate. That would be 30 days to file the appeal and 60 for the court to respond. You have a State Appeals Court, a State Supreme Court, A Federal Appeals Court and the US Supreme Court. That would be four appeals or one year. Add a fifth 90 day period for the governor to consider clemency and then schedule the execution for the 120 days after the first anniversary of the conviction.

The death penalty removes rabid animals from the population and is more than justified. If you abolish the death penalty and place these animals into the general population you are further endangering the men and women in the general population as well as providing an opportunity for escape that a coffin never will.

Now before you cloud up and rain all over me with the Life Sentence without the possibility of parole I will remind you of the Airman in Southern California. He planned and killed his wife, used the money from her life insurance to have a nice wedding with his mistress. He was tried and convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. 16 years later this animal was paroled. That's right, paroled!!! There is NO SUCH THING as life without parole. One bleeding heart judge and Charles Manson will be on the streets. One stroke of a governor’s pen and all men and women on death row will be off death row. That happened in one state recently. I think it was Illinois but without checking I wouldn't bet on that.

You asked for opinions and here is mine in one sentence. IMO death is the only fitting thing to do with a large number of the killers we have in this country.

Answer 7

if you ever are unfortunate enough to be very close to a person that is killed and the person that killed is caught,you can't tell me you don't want this person punished in like matter........as far as the law (in some states)concerning the death penalty ...i am all for it....apparently most people are, or it wouldn't be laws on the books favoring the death penalty.

Answer 8

Not all killing is wrong.

Is it wrong to kill someone to save others lives? I don't think so.

Also I think people get caught up on the ideal of justice. Sometimes (dependent on what the criminal did) justice isn't what is needed, punishment is. But that seems to be a bad word.

Answer 9

Death Penalty are only used in Medieval Countries

Answer 10

I believe that it should never happen, there have been cases where they got it wrong and innocent people have died. Sorry wouldn't mean much to someone unjustly killed.

Also, two wrongs don't make a right, if you kill a murderer I think that makes you one as well. You're still killing someone.

Imprison them and just let them waste their life, living in the knowledge of what they've done. It should be for LIFE too, not just a life sentence that actually means 20 years or so.